Dido’s gamble means white flag isn’t likely February 8, 2011 DIDO Harding is a keen racehorse owner whose horse Cool Dawn won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1998. But perhaps the biggest gamble of her career was leaving the sector she had become synonymous with to take the reins at TalkTalk. Harding made her name in supermarkets, first as an executive at Tesco, which she [...]
Wolfson continues recovery February 8, 2011 Wolfson Microelectronics continued to recover in the fourth quarter as its chips were designed into more products in the fast-growing smartphone, gaming and ebook sectors. Wolfson, whose chips are in Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone and Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader, reported underlying operating profit of $1.3m (£800,000), against a $4.3m loss a year ago, on revenue [...]
ARM suffers after bad note February 8, 2011 ARM shares dropped 2.62 per cent yesterday after Barclays Capital downgraded the stock from ‘overweight’ to ‘equalweight’, saying that, for the first time in years, the firm’s stock was fairly valued. He also raised his target for the stock from 370p to 650p. The downgrade followed a massive sale of stock by ARM chief technology [...]
CCC to sell $750m in notes February 8, 2011 Private equity-owned radio and outdoor displays company Clear Channel Communications plans to sell $750m (£467m) of notes due 2021, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. It also said it is seeking to amend its senior secured credit facilities in part to give it greater flexibility to incur new debt. [...]
Premier Foods sells off can division to Princes February 8, 2011 PREMIER Foods yesterday said that it sold its canned grocery division –?including the brands Crosse & Blackwell and Fray Bentos – to rival Princes. The £182m deal is aimed at cutting Premier’s debt and is the second disposal in less than a month after the company sold its Quorn business for £205m. Premier said it [...]
Thomas Cook in £20m blow from unrest February 8, 2011 TOUR operator Thomas Cook warned yesterday that political unrest in holiday destinations Egypt and Tunisia would dent second-quarter profits by around £20m. Cities in Egypt including Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez have become virtual no-go zones for tourists, starving the travel firm of valuable revenue from the area. The misery has been exacerbated after riots [...]
Air France-KLM is hit by Africa crisis February 8, 2011 POLITICAL instability in Africa is beginning to affect revenues at Air France-KLM, the airline group warned yesterday, despite reporting a 4.8 per cent rise in overall January passenger traffic. Europe’s largest airline group by sales said the proportion of seats sold, or passenger load factor, rose 1.1 percentage points to 79.2 per cent in January. [...]
Fitness First eyes float February 8, 2011 London-based private equity firm BC Partners has appointed three banks to manage its £1bn float of gym chain Fitness First. Credit Suisse, JP Morgan and Asian-based bank CLSA will oversee the planned flotation on the Singapore stock market in a move that will be a blow to the London Stock Exchange. The appointment of the [...]
WH Smith buys 22 new shops February 8, 2011 WH Smith expanded its high street presence yesterday as it spent £1.05m on 22 stores from the administrators of failed retailer British Bookshops and Stationers. The company, which began life as Sussex Stationers in 1938, called in Zolfo Cooper in January after struggling with snow and cashflow difficulties. Smiths will add the stores and staff [...]
McBride hit by rising costs February 8, 2011 A second wave of commodity price increases and a deteriorating British grocery market will hit profits at cleaning products maker McBride, it said yesterday. McBride, Europe’s biggest maker of own-brand household cleaning products for retailers, said a surge in the price of plastics and vegetable oils in recent weeks could add around £7m to its [...]
